Darlington FC U23s 2 Easington Lane 3

A very frustrating afternoon for the U23s, who came away with nothing despite playing some good football in the first half.

Darlington started brightly, creating a couple of early opportunities before Easington took the lead against the run of play.

However, that goal seemed to spark the U23s into life, and they responded with some excellent football, scoring twice through Steven Dawson and Owen Harvey to go into the half-time break 2–1 ahead.

The second half was a completely different story. Easington came flying out of the blocks, putting the U23s under sustained pressure and pinning them back for large periods. Unfortunately, two poor defensive moments once again proved costly, allowing Easington to turn the game around. Defensive lapses have been a recurring problem for the u23s this season, and it is something they urgently need to address.

Darlington did create a few opportunities of their own, but the Easington goalkeeper produced some excellent saves. The U23s huffed and puffed during the final 20 minutes but couldn’t find that final pass or moment of quality to rescue a point.

Manager John Walters said: “That’s a really poor and gutless second-half performance from my team today. Easington wanted it more than us, and ultimately that’s why they got the result.

“I’ll hold my hands up to a degree because I probably got the team selection wrong in certain areas, but regardless of selection, if you don’t defend properly as a team, you will get punished.

“We have to take responsibility for what happened today. We are still sitting in fourth place, but that means nothing if we don’t start putting things right.

“We’ll be doing a lot of work on the training pitch this week, particularly around our defensive shape, organisation and working together as a unit. I’m also looking to bring a few players into the squad over the coming weeks to strengthen our options.

“There’s plenty of football left to play this season, but performances like today’s simply aren’t good enough, and we need a response.”